After last week's uncomfortable rebound in claims, this week calmed fears. Printing at 289k (down 14k from last week) against expectations of 304k, this dropped the four-week average of jobless claims to the lowest since February 2006. Continuing claims also fel back to near the lowest since May 2006. One thing to bear in mind is that this is practically the peak for historical seasonality as the second half of the year has tended to see claims rise...
Lowest 4-week average initial claims since Feb 2006...
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But seasonality may not be a friend anymore...
[4]
Charts: Bloomberg
